Talking to a reporter of Lao Dong Newspaper, Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Ha - Member of the Standing Committee, Deputy Head of the Labor Relations Department of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour - said that in fact, many workers (NLĐ) detect negative acts in enterprises such as social insurance fraud, evasion of social insurance contributions, wage arrears, violations of labor safety... However, most of them choose to remain silent because they are worried about being persecuted, job transfers, bonus cuts or termination of labor contracts. In that context, the Trade Union organization plays a particularly important role in protecting workers who dare to speak out for the common good. "According to the provisions of law, whistleblowers are protected in terms of information confidentiality, job position and legitimate rights. However, for these regulations to go into life, the role of the grassroots Trade Union Executive Committee and the directly superior Trade Union is extremely important" - Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Ha assessed. When receiving feedback from union members or employees, the Executive Committee of the grassroots Trade Union must provide legal advice and guide employees to follow the correct denunciation procedures; represent employees to work and dialogue with employers...
If the matter cannot be resolved at the grassroots level, the Executive Committee of the grassroots trade union must immediately report the matter to the upper-level trade union, so that the upper-level trade union can coordinate with the labor inspectorate, social insurance agency or functional agency to inspect and clarify signs of violations (if any). Along with that, the trade union must supervise the process of resolving the case to ensure the legitimate rights of employees. If the enterprise unilaterally terminates the contract or disciplines the complainant against regulations, the upper-level trade union can support employees to sue, participate in protecting their rights in court or mediate according to the provisions of law.
Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Ha assessed that in order to perform well the task of protecting the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of employees, grassroots trade union officials need to have bravery and dare to fight for the rights of employees. In which, trade union officials need to regularly go to workshops and production locations, talk to workers, grasp their thoughts and aspirations in order to detect arising conflicts early; to effectively protect employees, trade union officials must have legal knowledge, at least need to master: Trade Union Law, Labor Code, Social Insurance Law, Law on Safety and Health, Employment Law, guiding decrees and circulars. Legal knowledge helps trade union officials negotiate correctly, have grounded dialogues and protect employees when disputes occur. Trade union officials must have bravery, dare to speak out against acts of employers violating labor laws such as debt, evasion of social insurance contributions; salary arrears, late salaries; violations of working hours, overtime; violations of safety and health. Courage is also shown in protecting union members on the basis of law, not avoiding conflict but also not facing extreme opposition, towards building harmonious labor relations. When resolving disputes or reflections of employees, trade union officials need to listen to both sides, verify information, not biase employers, and not take advantage of their positions for personal gain.
In reality, many workers do not dare to reflect negativity because they are afraid of retaliation... therefore, a responsible trade union official needs to keep the information of the reflecter secret, support the collection of evidence, accompany workers when working with businesses, and propose to functional agencies when violations are detected, not to let workers be isolated or discriminated against..." - Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Ha added.
